


How you do it

by Sylvalum



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Discussion of some heavy stuff, Gen, Sonic breaks the law (tm)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 18:32:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17472770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylvalum/pseuds/Sylvalum
Summary: Shadow sided with the Black Arms, and is now locked up and waiting for GUN to decide what to do with him.He gets a visitor.





	How you do it

 

”Hey.” Sonic takes a step closer to the reinforced glass. Shadow says _hey_ back, voice without any inflection. For how much of a hassle it was to get inside of this room the moment feels very anticlimactic, nearly peaceful, and sort of meaningless. It’s not going to stay that way though, Sonic will make sure of it. He takes a deep breath: he’s got a whole slew of questions. He’s thought a lot about this shit.

He opens his mouth to ask something weighty and crucial but what comes out is, “ _Why_?” The intensity of that single word shocks them both, Sonic can see it in Shadow’s posture.

Shadow answers after just a second. “Humanity deserves to die.”

“That’s not what Maria would want.”

“Too bad they killed her then.”

Sonic looks for cracks in his expression, and Shadow calmly stares back at him. He’s slumped against the wall, but his bruises seem to be all healed and he’s not in pain nor exhausted, he’s just sitting there. Stark black and red against the dull white stone, and be it the way he’s holding himself or his whole appearance, or perhaps only because Sonic _knows_ , but Shadow looks alien. He doesn’t resemble a black arms _at all_ but he doesn’t seem very much like a hedgehog either, and while he looks striking the result is that Sonic feels a bit unsettled which… yeah, right.

“Maria wasn’t the only good human.” And _hey_ , Sonic can work with this. “I _know_ GUN are bad and rotten and far too trigger-happy _but_ , they don’t actually represent the majority of the human race. You didn’t even stop to think, did you? To give this world a chance-“

“There’s no point.”

Sonic throws up the hand he doesn’t currently have in a cast. “Of course there is! If all you’ve seen is the worst of the United Federation then how – you haven’t seen _humanity_. I know there’s bad, but there’s good too. Don’t let your father control-“

“My father is _nothing_!” Shadow interrupts, finally something harsh like emotion in his voice. “He was a tool.”

“Then why did you obey him?”

Shadow glares at him, eyes narrowed, and Sonic smirks on the inside because _there, there it is_. The crack. Sonic asks, “Did you honestly _want_ to destroy the world? Or was that just what you thought you _should_ want?”

There’s a moment before Shadow says, “I’m a weapon. Destruction is my purpose.”

-and that’s just. _No_. Did Shadow _believe_ that? What the hell- “ _No_ ,” Sonic snaps. “You’re not – no, you’re not, you’re a person, don’t use that as an excuse-“ and Sonic cuts his sentence clean off before he _really_ says something bad, while Shadow just looks at him so eternally infuriatingly _calmly_ , head just barely tilted to the side like he’s watching some small woodland creature doing something puzzling or foolish.

“Did you want it?” Sonic repeats.

Shadow just watches him for ten seconds, twenty. Then he says simply; “Yes.”

 

* * *

 

Sonic spins around as if he’s going to storm right out, but he doesn’t. Body rigid with tension he stands there for half a minute, and then he takes a step back and slumps down to sit and lean against the glass. His spines are a very deep blue that Shadow hasn’t found anywhere else, and he almost wants to reach out and touch them. Feel if they’re as sharp as they look. Unfortunately there’s a sturdy glass barrier between the two of them.

“Really?” Sonic asks suddenly, sounding pained. It’s obvious what he means.

“In that moment there was nothing else I desired.”

A choked, “And now?”

Shadow stares at Sonic’s back, turned to him, and allows himself to _doubt_. He can remember only a handful of days from his life, and none of them gives him a single reason to _not_ destroy the world. Sonic he would call a stranger, but he’s been awake for so little and Sonic’s been there for so much of that time that— And Rouge. She’s the only one Shadow regrets doing this to. He’s almost sure she wouldn’t like what he was about to do…

“Nothing,” Shadow answers. “I want nothing. I have no purpose.”

“You don’t need to have one. You could just _exist_.” A pause like Sonic is waiting for him to reply. There won’t be one, and Sonic realises this too. “Live a little. Travel the world.”

“They’ll never let me out,” Shadow says, now amused at Sonic. By Sonic. He’s an irritating obstacle and yet he’s close to making Shadow regret breaking his arm, simply because when he isn’t a fucking menace he’s so charming. Though the fact that Shadow feels no need to blame anyone other than humanity as a whole might also be why.

“They’re planning to kill you,” Sonic warns.

“They’ll try until they find a way to do it,” Shadow agrees.

Sonic is quiet. Shadow can’t imagine what he’s thinking.

“Do you want that?” he asks at last.

“No.” Shadow has to clear his throat. “No, I don’t.” _It shouldn’t feel so daunting._

“If you could leave right this moment – what would you do?”

“Burn this place down.”

“And after?” Sonic insists.

“…I’d leave the Federation.” Go back to ARK. Find Rouge. Build a grave. Hunt down the last of the androids. Find a blue bluer than Sonic, a red prettier than blood. Go to the sea.

“You wouldn’t collect the emeralds?”

Shadow doesn’t answer.

“I’m sorry,” Sonic says abruptly. “It was your choices that put you here but – but they weren’t very well-informed ones, I’m sure.”

 

* * *

 

It’s actually easier to talk to Shadow when Sonic can’t see him. He can imagine that Shadow is making expressions this way. And – it feels as if he can trust him, almost, and that’s definitely _a bad thing Sonic_ hold your horses- But. Now, if he’s just hearing his voice… he can picture Shadow at ARK instead, or Super Shadow, not this, this person who-

Tails and Amy are going to hate this decision.

“Shadow,” Sonic says. “I was thinking, you know – security might be down tonight for a bit. Open doors, no cameras. I mean, I’m not suggesting anything…”

“Are you now?” Shadow says, but he sounds almost fond. Yup, Sonic needs to leave immediately. He gets up and turns to face Shadow, and _darn_ but he can’t resist it – he winks at him. And then he leaves the cell, the GUN guards standing outside nodding respectfully at him like he wasn’t _just_ helping the most dangerous traitor in the United Federation escape. Just Sonic here, nothing special to see, just the hero of Mobius…

 


End file.
